1. Field of The Invention
This invention generally relates to the field of software purchasing, distribution and help desk workflow, and more particularly to licensed software selected, delivered and installed through a network.
2. Description of The Related Art
The deployment of software is the last step in the cycle of software commerce. It suffers from all of the classical product and product distribution problems. For most products the problems encountered include, manufacturing, documentation, shipping, storage, over production, inventory shortages, and theft. However, software has some unique problems. One such problem is distribution. It's not uncommon for major software to be released more than once a year and distribution must be managed for frequent turnover where the product life is limited. In addition the distributors often are selling several competitive products. They are searching for a reason to sell one product over another product.
Once purchased the installation of the software product is often performed by consumers with limited computer skills. Many times this results in consumer confusion and frequent calls to help centers. The customer often times blames the software vendor for problems, which may be due to the particular PC being used, its configuration or the state of the co-resident software including the operating system. In a company the problems may be even worse as typically a IS (Information Services) person or department is accountable for not only all of the computers, which include hardware and software, but also the maintenance and upgrading. The employees always want the latest software and in many cases “require” special and unique configurations. Additionally the IS department tries to use just in time purchasing methods. Accordingly, a need exists for a efficient software deployment and installation solution to overcome the problems mentioned above.
Continuing further, there are two major developments that are influencing the software selection and deployment industry. One is the concept of very thin client, which usually means among other things, no removable media. With this type of a PC the software is installed and maintained and upgraded through a network. The second concept is the idea of “software is a service”. Notable here is Microsoft's . NET strategy, and SUN Microsystems's .COM efforts. With these business models the concept is that software is not bought in the classical sense but rather it is rented, or even given away. Accordingly, a need exists for a distribution method for software products, to provide distribution for normal computers, for thin clients, normal software products and also support for software that is a service.
Medium to large corporations use a centrally managed, enterprise-wide, software delivery application to distribute software to employees in an automated manner using installation packages. The software is packaged in such a way that only certain approved options are offered. This allows for the installation to take place with minimal up-front prompting of the user. The installation package is automated, and the installation performs identically for all employees. The installation package during installation will typically check for sufficient system resources on the employee's PC to stage, and perform the installation. Other checks are also performed including compatibility with the operating system, and other requisite software.
Although these centrally managed software delivery applications are useful they are not without their shortcomings. One shortcoming is the requirement to enter product keys during installation. Often times the management and security of these keys are problematic. Accordingly, a need exists for a method and a system to overcome this problem.
Another shortcoming is the requirement for users to respond to installation prompts such as which installed options to select. Installation options such as destination directories and options are required. For many inexperienced computer users, the answers to these installation questions are often not known. Moreover, different answers to installation questions among employees causes the installation package to install the software differently from system to system. Different installations across systems are much harder for support personnel to supply help and guidance. Accordingly, a need exists for a method and a system to overcome this problem.
Still, another shortcoming with the centrally managed, enterprise-wide, software delivery applications of the prior art is often times there is a need for internal or external logic associated with a software package to provide entitlement checks. The use of software entitlement checks with specialized programming and logic is expensive to deploy and expensive to maintain. The administrative costs associated with entitlement are particularly expensive. Accordingly, a need exists to overcome this problem as well.
Yet, still another shortcoming with the centrally managed, enterprise-wide, software delivery applications is the amount of communications between licensed software applications and licensed management servers being installed and the server from which the software is downloaded. Many times even after software is downloaded in the prior art systems, license information must be passed back from the application to the server. Accordingly, a need exists to overcome this shortcoming as well.